Revelstoke Digital Feature

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EDITORIAL Editor | Brice Minnigh Photo Editor | Anthony Smith Art Director | Shaun N. Bernadou Managing Editor | Nicole Formosa Gear Editor | Ryan Palmer Online Editor | Jon Weber Director of Photography | David Reddick photos Bruno Long words Brice Minnigh

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IT WAS DESTINED TO BE A MORNING OF DIVIDED LOYALTIES. CAREFULLY NEGOTIATING A NARROW RIDGELINE OF LOOSE ROCK, I WAS TORN BETWEEN THE NEED TO FOCUS ON THE TRAIL AND MY DESIRE TO SOAK UP THE INTOXICATING MOUNTAIN VIEWS IN EVERY DIRECTION. THE LAWS OF PHYSICS WERE PREVAILING, KEEPING MY EYES GLUED TO THE GROUND AHEAD, WHEN A SLIVER OF SUNLIGHT SLIPPED FROM BENEATH THE CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON, ILLUMINATING A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS SEA OF SAW-TOOTHED RIDGES SHROUDED IN EARLY-MORNING MIST. ONCE AGAIN, BEAUTY HAD GOTTEN THE BEST OF ME. AS KEEN AS I WAS FOR THE DESCENT AHEAD, I COULDN’T SHIFT MY GAZE FROM THE SPLENDOR UNFOLDING IN THE DISTANCE. FROM MY LOFTY PERCH NEAR THE TOP OF BRITISH COLUMBIA’S SOARING MT. CARTIER, I STARED SOUTH ACROSS THE SELKIRK MOUNTAINS, A VAST TRACT OF GEOLOGIC UPLIFT STRETCHING ALL THE WAY TO IDAHO. I COULD SEE FOR HUNDREDS OF MILES. YET THIS WAS JUST AN ORDINARY MORNING ON THE SUBLIME SINGLETRACK OF REVELSTOKE’S ALPINE KINGDOM.

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Stu Dickson and Jordy Lebel. Joss Mountain trail.

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Lorraine Blancher, Stu Dickson and Brice Minnigh. Frisby Ridge trail.

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Keystone Standard Basin trail.

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Revelstoke’s Boulder Mountain network of trails is the place to get your gravity fix, with steep, root-filled runs such as Loggin’ Leftovers, Gravy Bacon, Boondocker, Snakes ‘n’ Ladders and Hotdog Hallway, a favorite among locals looking to rack up some air miles.

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Revelstoke-based World Cup DH racer Casey Brown and her dog Snuff love to vie for the hole shot on the Ultimate Frisby DH trail. But when Snuff gets dropped his name is Mud.

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Revelstoke’s growing trail system is the result of hard work and organization, but a masterpiece can be wiped out after a few days of intense logging.

Stu Dickson. Hemlock Grove, Mt. Macpherson.

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Andrew Clark and Brodie Evans. Loggin’ Leftovers on Boulder Mountain.

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IT ONLY TAKES A FEW DAYS OF RIDING IN THE REVELSTOKE AREA TO REALIZE THAT THERE ARE TRAILS EVERYWHERE. AND MOST OF THEM RANGE FROM FLAT-OUT TERRIFIC TO ABSOLUTELY UNFORGETTABLE. THE TERRAIN WE SAMPLED COVERED THE SPECTRUM OF THE MOUNTAIN-BIKING

EXPERIENCE.

IT WAS EVERYTHING WE’D EXPECTED, AND THEN SOME. 22 ELEVATED SP IRITS

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Stu Dickson and Jordy Lebel. Joss Mountain trail.

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Stu Dickson. Frisby Ridge trail.

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In mid summer on the Frisby Ridge trail, ice-cold alpine lakes are the only place to escape from the hordes of mosquitos and other insects.

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A helicopter lift into the alpine is a rare treat. And on the day we rode Mt. Cartier it saved us at least seven hours of climbing. Local operator Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing recently secured a tenure to run backcountry heli-biking trips in some designated areas of the Selkirk Mountains, potentially making this area more accessible to mountain bikers.

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Jeff Honig, Brice Minnigh and Lorraine Blancher survey the Selkirk Mountains from the ridgeline just below the summit of Mt. Cartier.

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AFTER

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CLIMB

THROUGH A COOL HEMLOCK FOREST, THE FRISBY RIDGE TRAIL EVENTUALLY EMERGED FROM THE TREES INTO A SEQUENCE OF SPRAWLING MEADOWS THAT LED TO THE RIDGE’S HIGHEST POINT. WE WERE STRUCK BY HOW WELL-CONCEIVED THE TRAIL WAS, AND AUTHOR BRICE MINNIGH (RIGHT) COULD SCARCELY CONTAIN HIS EXCITEMENT OVER WHAT PROMISED TO BE A RIP-ROARING RIDE BACK DOWN. 34 ELEVATED SP IRITS

The author signs the guestbook in the Keystone Cabin.

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HAPPILY DESCENDING TO A RUSTIC LOG CABIN NESTLED ALONGSIDE A CLEAR LAKE, WE TALKED ABOUT THE STRANGE COMFORT IN REALIZING OUR RELATIVE INSIGNIFICANCE IN THE SCHEME OF THIS PLACE. 39 E LEVATED S P IR ITS

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The weekly Pedal and Pint group ride is always filled with plenty of surprises.

One minute you could be bombing down an abandoned freeride line and the next minute you could be climbing up a culvert underneath a railway bridge. But if you’re doing it right you’ll be too buzzed to feel the pain.

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The charismatic Brent Strand has been leading the Pedal and Pint group ride every summer Thursday evening for the past nine years. He’s the undisputed Pied Piper of Revelstoke, and he’s always raring to lead the willing inhabitants on a debaucherous death march on the trails around town.

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Casey Brown, Stu Dickson and the dogs enjoy the sublime alpine singletrack on Eagle Pass Mountain.

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WE WERE SOON PEDALING THROUGH GRASSLAND RESPLENDENT IN PATCHES OF BRIGHT PURPLE, RED AND YELLOW BLOOMS, WITH THE PEAKS LOOMING IN THE DISTANCE.

Lorraine Blancher. River Trail.

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